The Telephone by Maya Angelou

In The Telephone, Maya Angelou personifies a telephone to portray the loneliness that the lack of phone calls causes the speaker of the poem to feel.  The speaker of the poem refers to the telephone as "a strict and spinstered aunt."  That image in itself, often viewed as an old woman, sitting alone, surrounded by cats and an endless supply of knitting projects, evokes a feeling of loneliness and desperation.  Then, the speaker of the poem expresses how this spinster ignores her as the spinster is busy interfering in the lives of others: "busy with the hemming of strangers' overlong affairs of the darning of [her] neighbors' worn-out dreams."  Through this metaphor, one can infer that others are constantly on the telephone, building the foundation of their social lives.  But for the speaker of the poem, however, the telephone "sits silent," as she gets no telephone calls.  Unlike the other people around her, the speaker of the poem lacks the companions and social life to receive many calls from friends, lovers, and family, which she finds distressing.  The speaker of the poem ends the piece with "Ring.  Damn you!"  This statement, though incredibly simple, shows the disappointment and anger that the speaker feels from her lack of telephone calls.  Instead of ending the poem with a period, she uses an exclamation point, which shows how strongly she feels about the subject and how truly upset she is.